1.
You can use ~ to emphasize a statement. Some careful speakers of English think that this use is incorrect.
We’ve got to get the economy under control or it will ~ eat us up...
The views are ~ breath-taking.
ADV: ADV with cl/group (not last in cl), ADV before v emphasis
2.
You use ~ to emphasize that what you are saying is true, even though it seems exaggerated or surprising.
Putting on an opera is a tremendous enterprise involving ~ hundreds of people...
I ~ crawled to the car.
ADV: ADV with cl/group (not last in cl), ADV before v emphasis
3.
If a word or expression is translated ~, its most simple or basic meaning is translated.
The word ‘volk’ translates ~ as ‘folk’...
A stanza is, ~, a room.
ADV: ADV with v, ADV with cl
4.
If you take something ~, you think that a word or expression is being used with its most simple or basic meaning.
If you tell a person to ‘step on it’ or ‘throw on your coat,’ they may take you ~, with disastrous consequences.
PHRASE: V inflects